Cochin is a fast developing commercial and tourist destination. But the city has its own problems – traffic jams, garbage strewn over the place, open drains, potholes, narrow roads and so on. What is it that can be done to make it a much better place to live? This is exactly what CPPR wishes to find out under Reinventing Cochin project….the part played by the state and civil society

Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Flyovers are not the long lasting solutions

by D.Dhanuraj

I was in Mumbai for a couple of days. I was visiting the city after 8 months. This time, I had to travel quite a bit for my meetings. It gave me an opportunity to experience many recently built flyovers. There are four lanes to eight lanes for the roads in Mumbai. But I hardly saw any public transport vehicle using these infrastructure. It was like hundreds of cars and luxury vehicles jamming the roads in turn. What is the use of these flyovers?

Recently in Kochi also, I have been noticing that more number of private vehicles are on the streets with one passenger alone. There is an increased traffic jam in the city since metro construction started. I am not sure why these authorities failed to promote public transport instead of going for widening of roads and flyovers on a priority basis.If the corporation wanted to issue 3000 to 5000 new auto rickshaw licenses, why couldn't they impress upon the state government, metro and district administration to issue more bus permits? Why they failed to give people more comfort, access, safe and affordable options in public transport? Why couldn't they encourage commuters to shift to public transport instead of breaking their heads to fund the land acquisition and fight court cases? Introduce GPS trackers and online information of public transport for live information of movement of public transport that would enable more reliability and punctuality for public transport. These are all cheaper when compared to constructing more and more flyovers and widened roads and regenerating the vicious cycle of traffic congestion with the construction of each flyover promoting more private vehicles.

Surrounded by the Western Ghats and the Arabian sea, Kochi or Cochin (Kochi) was formed as an ancient port city after the Great Floods of the Periyar River. Historically rich in culture, the city has witnessed settlements ranging from the Portuguese to the Chinese. Check out all best places to visit in Cochin also.